Kimmie Hamrick, a University of Michigan freshman who spent all of Monday night outside waiting for a ticket to see President Obama in Ann Arbor, was determined to snag a front-row seat for Obama's speech Wednesday.

““When else will I get this kind of an opportunity? It’s just a once in a lifetime chance,” said Hamrick, one of about 35 people in line at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Hamrick and her friend Sameen Haq had bags of supplies that they said contained lots of beef jerky, crackers, seaweed and hand warmers to hold them through their second long wait in two and a half days.

Most of those in line early at the Intramural Building — where President Obama will speak shortly before 3 p.m. — also camped out Monday night in order to secure their tickets to the event.

“We’re making that wait worth it right now by waiting again,” Freshman Zach Miller said. He and fellow freshman Megan Schulte arrived at about 7 a.m. to claim spots in the first 25 to get into the building.

“We don’t really like sleeping anyway,” Schulte said.

A group of about eight freshmen who were in the front of the line Monday night were holding down places 10 through 18 Wednesday morning.

“We needed to sleep in our own beds last night,” Meredith Gillies said. “We’re still going to be right up at the front though.”

Students who camped out Monday night and arrived before 8 a.m. Wednesday morning will have spent nearly 20 hours waiting in lines to hear the president speak.

“I’ve been telling my friends that this will be a convenient way for me to date myself with my grandchildren,” freshman Carson Smith, who was in line with a group of about 10 members of the College Democrats organization, said.

About 35 students had joined the slowly but steadily growing line by 7:45 a.m. Wednesday morning.Ben Freed | The Ann Arbor News

“But it’s really just an incredible opportunity to see one of the most powerful people in the world and hear what he has to say, because it’s worth listening to. Plus, you have to be in front to have a chance to get a hand shake in.”

The vast majority of those in line at 7:45 were freshmen, but two of the first to arrive were seniors Meredith Martz and Shelby Wehner. Tucked snuggly into sleeping bags, the pair said they arrived at about 5:45 a.m. and planned to alternate between them holding the position and sneaking off to class.

“We missed the opportunity to see him when we were sophomores, so we feel like this is kind of our last chance to do something like this,” Martz said. “It’s the president on our campus.”

Ben Freed is a general assignments reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at benfreed@mlive.com and follow him on twitter at @BFreedinA2. He also answers the phone at 734-623-2528.